The Ranger

Digest

CHEYENNE -- Hay production in Wyoming is improved over last year thanks to early snows, moderate temperatures and a modest improvement in rainfall.

Hay production in the state is projected to improve by 4 percent through the end of the year, to about 1.96 million tons versus 1.89 million tons in 2012.

Drought conditions that limited the state's hay production in 2012 have lessened this year.

While much of Wyoming remains in some stage of drought, Steve Gunn of the National Agricultural Statistics Service tells the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that it's nowhere near as bad as last year.

Gunn says that while the average yield for a given acre of hay has remained steady at about 2.1 tons per acre, growers have been able to increase that acreage.

Judge mulls request on suit

CASPER -- A federal judge will consider a request from an airplane preservation group to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Wyoming man who claims the group found the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's airplane a few years ago in the South Pacific but kept the discovery secret.

U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl has set a hearing in Casper for Tuesday morning.

Timothy Mellon, son of the late philanthropist Paul Mellon, in June sued the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery of Delaware and its executive director, Richard E. Gillespie.

The group and Gillespie deny Mellon's claim that they found the wreckage of Earhart's plane. She disappeared over the South Pacific in 1937.

Mellon, of Riverside, says the group solicited $1 million from him last year for the Earhart search.

Fatal wreck in Crook County

Authorities say one person was killed in a single-vehicle crash in northeast Wyoming's Crook County.

The vehicle went over an embankment near milepost 13 on Wyoming Highway 24 on Saturday morning. The Wyoming Highway Patrol has not released any other details about the crash.

Lawmakers to discuss G&F cuts

JACKSON -- State lawmakers are coming to Teton County to talk about cuts to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and they could get an earful.

The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance has encouraged its members to attend Tuesday's 8:30 a.m. meeting in Teton Village. Representatives of the Wyoming Sportsmen's Alliance and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership are scheduled to testify before the Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee.

The conservation alliance's executive director, Trevor Stevenson, said the area will be disproportionately hurt by the cuts because its economy is tied to tourism and recreation. He says lawmakers need to find a way to fully fund the department by looking beyond just using revenue from hunting and fishing licenses.